Tuesday's election was a reversal of fortune for Democrats swept largely from power in 2010.

Two years ago, voters gave Republicans big majorities in the Statehouse that meant they could overturn Lynch's vetoes whenever they wanted if they stuck together.

All the votes weren't totaled Tuesday night, but it was clear Hassan will have a more evenly divided House and Senate. Not surprisingly, Hassan is calling for bipartisanship, which she will need to get bills passed.

Democrats also picked up the state's four electoral college votes for President Barack Obama and the two congressional seats.

Former Democratic U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter reclaimed the 1st District seat that Republican Frank Guinta had taken from her.

Democrat Ann McLane Kuster, who lost by 3,500 votes in 2010 to Republican Charles Bass, easily beat him to take the 2nd District seat and make New Hampshire's congressional delegation all female.

Republican U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte and Democratic U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen represent New Hampshire in the Senate. Neither was up for re-election.

Hassan took control of the governor's seat, beating Republican Ovide Lamontagne.

Going into Tuesday's election, there were 288 Republicans and 102 Democrats with 10 vacancies in the House. There were 18 Republicans and five Democrats in the Senate, with one vacancy. Although not all the votes had been counted, it appeared late Tuesday that the two chambers would be more evenly divided.

Hassan extended a hand across the aisle in her victory speech, noting the early indications are that the Legislature would be more Democratic.

"We should see this not as an obstacle but as an opportunity to move beyond the partisan divide," she said.

Hassan succeeds Lynch, the governor since 2005 who served four two-year terms.

Hassan's campaign stressed the need to repair damage they said was done by the Republican Legislature in its last budget, particularly by restoring deep cuts to public colleges and the state's hospitals. She said the way to help the economy is to invest in education so business has the workforce it needs.

"We will build a New Hampshire that nurtures innovation and entrepreneurs," she said in her victory speech.

Hassan successfully painted Lamontagne as too radical for New Hampshire, particularly for women.

Lamontagne, a Catholic, strongly opposes abortion and gay marriage, though he did not emphasize his support for imposing limits on abortion or repealing New Hampshire's same-sex marriage law in his campaign. He supports replacing gay marriage with civil unions for heterosexual and same-sex couples but doesn't support invalidating existing same-sex marriages. He also supports exempting religious organizations from contraceptive mandates in insurance coverage.

Hassan highlighted her support for the rights of workers to unionize, for women to have access to abortions and birth control and for gays to marry. Hassan was instrumental in the Senate passing the state's law legalizing same-sex unions in 2009. An effort to repeal it fell short this year.

Exit poll interviews with New Hampshire voters showed Hassan drew support from women, unmarried voters and those whose annual family incomes totaled less than $50,000.

Independents were also key. According to exit polls, Lamontagne and Hassan each captured more than 90 percent of their respective party bases, but Hassan led among the 4 in 10 who consider themselves independents.

In conceding, Lamontagne said he was disappointed, especially in the negative ads.

"I wish you all well and I wish the people of New Hampshire well in this critical time," Lamontagne said.

Both Hassan, 54, of Exeter, and Lamontagne, 55, of Manchester, are business attorneys and campaigned on the need to grow the economy and jobs. Both promised to veto personal income and general sales taxes.

The race was Hassan's first try for governor and Lamontagne's second bid. He lost to Shaheen in 1996. He also ran unsuccessful campaigns for Congress in 1992 and U.S. Senate in 2010.

Hassan lost her first bid for state Senate in 2002, but won the seat in the following election. She was defeated during a Republican sweep in 2010.